“I’m so far behind, I’ll never catch up!” wails a chorus of students in a self-paced online course. “I feel like I’m way behind the 8 ball in creating my business!” wails another chorus of business builders. (I’ve been feeling this one myself.)
What if we all stopped, just for a moment, to realize that “feeling behind” is an emotional reaction to a made-up clock in our head and an Inner Critic that assumes others are moving along at “the right” pace?
Consider these truths:
- Feeling behind means we’re comparing ourselves to others. These “others” may not even exist! After reading about being behind in post after post in a closed group for online course students, I couldn’t help but wonder if ANYONE was staying “caught up.” And the fact that it was a self-paced course made this “falling behind” feeling especially striking.
- Dwelling on the negative self-talk of being behind ties up a lot of energy. When we allow negative self-talk to continuously alarm us, we’re engaging our “emotional brain,” the limbic system, which keeps us in a state of anxiety and reactivity. What if we freed up that energy and used it for creative thinking in the Now?
- We can only live, act, and be in the Now. Do we want to spend our Now moments beating ourselves up about a feeling that only serves to tie up our creative energy and makes us indulge in false comparisons to mythical “others”?
For these reasons, feeling behind is counterproductive. We need to round up our energies and reorient ourselves to the Now, the only place anything real can happen. Let’s all take a deep breath and push the Reset button to refresh our minds.
Here are some empowering possibility questions to ponder:
What if you’re always in your own personal “divine order”?
What if you deeply decide to honor your own timeline?
What if you keep your mind at rest and attuned to inspired, creative possibilities?
Keep moving forward comfortably by letting your mind rest in the Now on your own sensible timeline.